FARMERS’ PARTICIPATION IN PESTICIDE FREE PADDY PRODUCTION THROUGH ADOPTION OF GREEN FARMING MODEL WITH INHANA RATIONAL FARMING TECHNOLOGY - A CASE STUDY FROM BIRBHUM, WEST BENGAL, INDIA

Industrial agriculture that relies heavily on synthetic inputs has led to the depletion of soil health, pest/ disease virulence and increased crop vulnerability especially under the climate change impact that ultimately threaten the farmers’ livelihood. The Green Farming Initiative through the utilization of Inhana Rational Farming (IRF) Technology was a collaborative undertaking of the Department of Agronomy, Visva-Bharati University (Santiniketan) and Inhana Organic Research Foundation (IORF, Kolkata) to motivate farmer’s interest towards pesticide free crop production and to establish a direct producer- consumer linkage for enabling value added end product at conventional price. Findings from the project indicated that ‘Plant Health Management’ accompanied by ‘Soil Health Management’ using on-farm produced Novcom compost can enable higher crop production. Also pesticide residue testing and 3rd party certification can help in value added marketing and establishing consumer connects, that can facilitate better farmers’ livelihood.